Goodbye
by agirlnamedraven
Summary: End of Shadow Kiss from Dimitri's pov. SPOILERS!


Hey all. I have gotten such good reviews, so I decided to reward you all. Here's the last part of Shadow Kiss, from Dimitri's pov. Enjoy! And of course, none of it belongs me. If it did, then this wouldn't have been happening!

I stood in the shadows, deep in the trees, where no sunlight could touch me. That was now one condition of my cursed life. Even being in so deep, I could still hear the large party gathering. A number of them stopped at some boundary. Memories from before the change came flooding back. Wards. A group stopped at the edge of the wards. A larger group kept going. More guardians, I assumed, going to check the cave for any survivors, and to bring out the dead bodies.

Dead bodies, and when they did come, I would not be among them. No, chance had given me a crueler fate. Rhonda had been correct with my reading… "You will loose what you value most." It was my soul that I lost.

During my ruminations, I heard the party of guardians coming back. It took every ounce of self will that I had left to not attack them. The need for blood rushed through me. People were buzzing about everywhere.

Suddenly, I heard the voice that I longed to hear. "Where's Dimitri? Is he… is he alive?" my heart broke when I heard that voice. Rose, my dear Roza.

A voice that I soon recognized as Janine Hathaway replied softly, "He wasn't there, Rose." I could almost hear Rose's brain whirring. I could see the stubborn look on her face, the one she always wears when she's trying to figure out an alternative to what she knows is true.

"Wait. What's that mean? Maybe he's injured and left to get help…" I heard her voice trail off. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to go and hold her, just once more. It wouldn't matter that there were thirty or so other guardians around. I just wanted to make her hurt go away.

"Molly wasn't there, either." Her mother said quietly.

"No, you don't think…" The sadness in her voice was almost palpable.

"I don't know what to think, Rose. If he survived, it's possible… it's possible that they took him for later…" That was the last thing that I wanted Rose thinking about right now. She didn't need to be having gory nightmares about some Strigoi slowly killing me by draining me of my blood. She needed to be focused on graduation; it was coming up quicker than they were realizing. She needed to be getting ready to be Lissa's guardian.

"But they wouldn't have taken Molly for later. She'd been dead for a while." Rose was trying to comprehend what might have happened to me. It was too much; I went from leaning against the strong oak, to sitting at the base. If I wasn't able to go out in the sun, and if I hadn't been craving all of the blood that I smelled, I would have said that I was my old self. But I knew better.

"I'm sorry, Rose. We can't know for sure. It's likely they're both dead, and the Strigoi dragged their bodies off." It was the first time in my entire life knowing Janine Hathaway that she did not tell the blunt truth. She was trying to protect Rose, which startled me immensely.

"What's happening?" a curious voice asked. It was Lissa, my former charge, and Roza's best friend. Suddenly I heard feet pounding the ground. They came to stop right outside the wards, not ten feet from where the trees started. I could feel the hurt and sadness, like an ache just roll of her.

"Rose, what are you –"Lissa was cut off by a cry.

"Mason! Mason, I need you." I knew what was coming now. She was going to find out. She was going to find out that I was the evilest of all the scum to walk the earth. I wondered if she would remember our conversation in the van, coming home from Missoula.

"Is Dimitri dead?" she asked. I could see him shake his head no. "Is he alive?" Another shake. Then the question she'd feared. The one she didn't want to ask, but knew she had to. "Is he… is Dimitri a Strigoi?" I could see him hesitate. He didn't want to tell her. Finally, he nodded.

I turned away, knowing that if I stayed, I would rush out to her. I fled, deeper into the woods I ran. 'She'll remember.' I told myself. 'She'll come for me." And with that, I set off; ready to face anything that came in my path. I was invincible. Well almost. And no one, save one person was going to stop me.


End file.
